All stranded drivers on Ontario highway rescued: reports

Canadian Forces helicopters and police on snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles have evacuated all motorists stranded on a snow-clogged stretch of Ontario highway between London and Sarnia.

Ontario Provincial Police said 237 people had been rescued as of 4 p.m. Tuesday. A breakdown of the number of motorists air-lifted out of the area versus taken out on land could not be provided, according to reports.

OPP spokeswoman Constable Liz Melvin said police were now in the process of checking every vehicles stuck on the affected areas of the highway using snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles to ensure no drivers are stranded overnight.

“We don’t know how many people may still be out there, so we’re going to continue checking,” she said. “We’re still under a state of emergency.”

Motorists became trapped Monday and spent the night huddling in their cars on Highway 402, after intense snow squalls reduced visibility to near-zero levels and piled huge drifts across the usually busy expressway.

The extreme winter weather made plowing all but impossible, leaving motorists to fend for themselves in sub-zero temperatures — many with out food, water or warm clothing.

Michael Freeman, who works at the CN rail yards in Sarnia, set out to work from his home in Burlington Monday morning and had been heading east on the road for about an hour before Highway 402 “stopped dead.”

That was at 8:30 a.m. Monday. He only just made it to a Tim Hortons in Reeces Corners Tuesday morning after a local snowmobiler picked him up from the side of the road.

Mr. Freeman says he was able to meet up with a co-worker who was also stranded on the highway, and conserved gas by spending part of the night in his friend’s car and part of the night in his own. They had neither food nor water.

“We had just stepped out to stretch our legs trying not to go cabin crazy when a local came by on a snowmobile and asked us if we wanted a lift to Tim Hortons. At that point, I was not about to say no,” he said on the phone from the Reeces Corners Tim Hortons.

Visibility was so poor, he said, that it was impossible to see other vehicles more than 10 yards away. That, combined with icy road conditions, led to countless collisions and vehicles in the ditch, Mr. Freeman said.

He said he plans to buy a jerry can of gas and make the 2 1/2 hour walk back to his car in the hope that he will be able to get out sometime Tuesday.

Eighteen-year-old Fanshawe College student Austin Pine left London Monday morning to head home to Sault Ste. Marie for the Christmas holidays. He had driven only a few kilometres west on Highway 402 when he got stuck in the snow.

“You couldn’t see a thing. It was white everywhere,” he said. “There are lots of accidents out there. Moving vans in snow banks, snowplows in the ditch, cars that have flown into the ditch.”

At one point during his drive, Mr. Pine says he couldn’t see more than few yards in front of him and drove straight into a snowbank after the road curved without warning.

Mr. Pine said he had luckily packed most of his warm clothing to take home for the holidays, a luxury most other drivers must do without, he said.

Lambton County officials declared a state of emergency at 9:45 p.m. Monday as rescue workers attempted to reach the stranded motorists throughout the night. Declaring a state of emergency means the county can ask Ottawa for aid, including help from the military.

Capt. Annie Morin, a spokeswoman at CFB Trenton, said the military received its first call for help from the OPP just before midnight Monday. The military immediately dispatched a Hercules aircraft and two Griffon helicopters, she said, but the weather proved so terrible that landing in the vicinity of the stranded motorists was impossible.

She said the helicopters were forced to land in London, where they spent the night before heading out again 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Capt. Morin said those the military has been able to reach are being taken to community halls in the nearby municipalities of Strathroy, Wyoming, Forest and Sarnia.

Warwick Township mayor Todd Case told the National Post about 100 people were brought in from the highway to spend the night at the Centennial Hall in Watford, with a further 35 sent to Warwick Township hall.

“They’re doing well considering the circumstances,” he said. “A lot of them have gone through a very tough time in the last few hours. They’re happy to be somewhere they can get food and have a roof over their head.”

He praised the local community after the halls were inundated with food, blankets and pillows for the stranded drivers.

“It’s just unbelievable.”

Sylvia Selbert, along with her six-month-old daughter Liv and husband Karsten Lerch, spent the night sleeping on the floor of Watford’s Centennial Hall with about 70 other people after being stranded near the town Monday afternoon.

Ms. Selbert, 36, and her family are visiting Canada from Koln, Germany, and were driving from London to Sarnia, where Mr. Lerch is taking up a job posting next April.

“We were lucky enough to be able to get off the highway and make it to Centennial Hall, so we’re very happy,” Ms. Selbert said. “We have all our supplies and suitcases with us, so we’re in quite a luxurious situation.”

She said her baby is doing well and is happy to be the centre of attention. The only problem, Ms. Selbert noted, is that the family has a return flight to Germany scheduled for Wednesday, but it’s now doubtful they’ll be able to make it back in time.

“We may have to extend our stay by a day, or even longer,” she said.

Grand Rapids, Michigan-resident Margaret Kleyn and her husband, Henk, set out early Monday from Dundas, Ont., where the couple was visiting Ms. Kleyn’s parents for a birthday party.

“The weather looked fine, and it started to snow a little bit as we got to London, but then it just got worse,” Ms. Kleyn said from Watford’s Centennial Hall, where she and her husband spent Monday night.

She says by 10:30 a.m. Monday, traffic on Highway 402, just past the town of Forest, had come to a complete standstill. It wasn’t until 5:30 p.m. that two local volunteer firefighters — one on a snowmobile and another with a truck — arrived at their Dodge minivan and told the couple to follow them out.

“When that wind was whipping, there was zero visibility and all you’re doing is trusting these flashing lights in front of you,” Ms. Kleyn, 58, recalled. “You couldn’t see anything.”

OPP spokesman Constable Dennis Harwood said police on snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles continue to drive up and down the highway looking for stranded motorists.

The hardest-hit area of the highway is a 40-kilometre stretch from Lambton County Road 22 west towards Sarnia, he said.

He urged motorists to stop driving around police barricades set up on entry ramps between London and Sarnia.

“They’re going to become part of the problem, not part of the solution down here,” he said.

Environment Canada is predicting more snow flurries in Lambton County Tuesday, with a high of minus seven degrees.

Still-stranded motorists are being told to listen to local radio stations CHOK AM1070, FM 106.3 or FM 99.9 to get the latest updates.

Have information or photos? Contact Kenyon Wallace at kewallace@nationalpost.com